No Longer Alone
by D3m0nDarks
Summary: Sauda's never been one to make friends easily. In fact, she's never made one at all. So what happens when she can't stand the way others treat Gaara and stands up for him? Takes place around the time Yashamaru was still alive. Prequel to Neko no Jutsu. DISCONTINUED
1. Chapter 1: Tore

"Why doesn't... why doesn't anyone want to play with me?"

The soccerball dropped at the little red-haired boy's feet as he watched the other children run away from him. This wasn't the first time it had happened.

It was clear to anyone who bothered to take a moment and look that the young boy was lonely, all he wanted was for someone to play with. All he wanted was a friend. Instead of trying to get to know him, or giving him any chance, everyone, from children to elders, ran in pure terror.

No one understood it was the demon inside of him that they should be afraid of, not the sweet boy that served as a medium between the two.

The kid looked down, feeling tears well up behind his eyes. Slowly, he turned and walked away, his teddy bear on the ground next to where he had stood.

Gaara...

Sauda sat on the swing, watching Gaara disappear.

She turned her head to glare in the direction the other kids had ran in, grinding her teeth.

Damn it! Why don't they like Gaara? It's the demon that's evil, not him!

Her gaze then drifted to the teddy bear lying on the ground. Gaara seemed to have been more upset than usual if he left Tore simply lying there. Tore was his favorite toy, and he carried it with him everywhere.

Gaara's going to want Tore back... Sauda figured.

She hopped off the swing and picked up the little stuffed bear. She followed the path to Gaara's house, walking past the Academy. She stopped to look at it for a moment.

The Suna Ninja Academy. The place everyone went to become a Genin ninja. Gaara was in her class, and while she sat at the very back, he sat by himself in a seat by the window at the front of the class, so other students could always see him and he couldn't directly see them. It was cruel.

Even the teachers feared him. They would even raise the lower of his quiz grades by a few points, hoping he wouldn't get mad and kill them.

But that wasn't like Gaara.

Gaara only saw low quiz grades as a reason to study, a slight flaw in his knowledge that he would be able to recognize and learn more about it. That's all they meant to him and there was no reason he would get upset at the teacher for his own scores.

"Sauda?"

Sauda suddenly jumped at the sound of her mother's voice. She looked over to see her mother standing with arms folded not too far behind her.

"Mom..." she said "What is it?"

Her mom glared at her. "It was getting late, so I came looking for you."

Sauda looked around and noticed it was night time already. "Oh, sorry."

Her mother's skeptical eyes shifted to Tore. "Where did you get that?"

"Oh, this is Gaara's. I was ju-"

"Gaara's?" her mother eyes widened in horror, being the paranoid woman she was. "You stole that from Gaara?" she quickly looked around to make sure no one was watching "He's going to kill us! We have to move, to the Hidden Land of Sound, maybe? Yeah, wherever, we just need to get out of here now!" Her wrist hurt as her mother's hand gripped it harshly.

"Mom!" Sauda shouted, slapping her mother's hand away "I didn't steal it! Gaara forgot it at the playground so I was just going to go give it back!"

Her mother seemed to hesitate "Don't let him see you, promise? We don't know what he might assume if he sees you with it."

Her mother may not have the slightest clue, but Sauda did.

But knowing her mother, she nodded. "Alright."

Her mom sighed out of relief. "Good. Be home within 10 minutes."

"Okay."

Sauda was overcome with relief as her mother walked away.

10 minutes... that's about the amount of time it would take to get home. She had no time to waste.

So off she ran, to the big familiar house where Gaara lived.

Once Sauda arrived at Gaara's house, she reached to ring the doorbell, but paused as she remembered her mother's words.

_Don't let him see you, promise?_

She sighed and gently placed Tore on the ground just outside his door. She quickly pushed the doorbell, and reluctantly ran behind the building across the street.

The door cautiously opened and Gaara looked around. Sauda noticed his eyes were a bit red, probobly from crying. Whether he had been crying for Tore, or out of loneliness, she wasn't sure.

Gaara suddenly noticed the teddy bear at his feet and an adorable smile spread across his face.

"Tore!" he exclaimed, picking it up and giving it a squeeze.

Gaara then blinked and looked around, wondering how Tore had gotten onto his porch.

Figuring no one was there, he went back inside again, turning the porch light off and double locking the door.

Sauda looked down in sadness. Poor Gaara... he had to make sure to lock his door twice, worried someone might try to break in and kill him in the middle of the night.

Not to mention, Temari and Kankuro would be a lot more vulnerable.

What a horrible way to live.

"I'm home!" Sauda called as she shut the door behind her.

Suddenly, somthing grabbed her around the chest, and her hand instinctively flew to the pouch that held her kunai knives. Then she settled down and sighed.

"Mom..." Sauda groaned "Can you get off me?"

Where had she come from? Her mom wasn't even a ninja!

Her mother ignored Sauda's request and instead cried into her shoulder. "Oh, sweetie, I was so worried about you!"

Sauda glanced at the clock. It had only been 8 minutes; within the time limit.

Sauda managed to free her arms and slide her mother off. She calmy walked away as if nothing had happened, although still irritated simply by her mother's presence.

Sauda's mom, Kishi Sachikuro, had always left Sauda dumbfounded as to how she was related to such a... childish "adult". Her mom constantly cried over her daughter's absence and needed comfort when scared as if she was still a toddler.

Sometimes she wondered who the real kid was.

Sauda basically had to care for herself, her mother, and her little sister ever since her father had left for the Land of Claws before she even enrolled in the Academy. Honestly, she didn't blame him. The only thing she held against him was that he didn't take her mother with him when he left.

Sauda was said to have her father's face, with bright golden attentive eyes, but she had her mother's long black hair.

When she was little everyone teased her and called her "Sachi-cat-o", but she didn't care. She liked cats, so it wasn't much of an insult anyways. But even so, she would smile sweetly and reply "Well, at least I don't look like you." and leave it at that.

One time some kid pissed her off enough that when he called her "cat-face", she took a mirror out of her bag and handed it to him. When he gave her a confused look, she explained "You keep picking on me for looking like a cat. I figured, "he must not know what an ass looks like", so I bought you this mirror. Don't worry about paying me back for it; put it to good use and you'll be doing everyone a favor." and she walked away.

Needless to say, she wasn't the Kazekage's favorite.

Sauda cleared her head and poured a glass of water. Walking back to the living room, she handed it to her mom and walked up the stairs to her room.

When she closed the door, her mom's sniffles were muted. That's one thing she liked about having sound-proof walls.

She gazed at her room. It was painted black with a mysterious dark purple swirl-like pattern. Her bed was in the left corner of the room, covered in stuffed animals. To the left of the head of her bed, on the short wall, was the only window, it stuck out a bit from the house and had a cushoned seat. The window itself let in enough moonlight to clearly make out every detail. Her eyesight was better than most people's, otherwise it might as well be pitch-black.

The window had black curtains hung to the side, ready to block out the sunlight when it appeared.

On the short wall to the right was a mere bookcase, which held many fantasies of alternate worlds, and ones of mystical creatures such as dragons and griffens.

On the bookcase were random figurines of said creatures, along with fierce common animals like snarling wolves and roaring sabertooths.

Glow in the dark stars and one moon were spread out across the ceiling. Hanging from overhead were glass spheres with beautiful swirling colors that dazzled in the light. Mixed in with the colorful spheres were golden pieces of metal that had odd shape to them, such as one that looked like a ribbon spiraling downwards, with a thick copper wire spiraling in the opposite direction, going through a few random marbles along the way. It looked like a beautiful sculpture you would see in a park in other lands, since Suna didn't have a park of it's own.

In short, it looked like a planetarium that belonged to a wizard.

Sauda gave a deep sigh. Unlike the rest of her life, her bedroom was quiet and peaceful.

She walked to the window and sat, leaning on the small bit of wall behind her, and her legs crossed just short of reaching the other side of the window.

Sauda gazed out from her window into the night. The moon was big and seemed closer to the earth. The wind had settled down a bit, calming from it's commonly fierce winds that came with the sandstorms.

Sauda's thoughts began to wander to the next day. Tomorrow they were having a test on their ability to dodge attacks. The teacher would throw a kunai knife, and the students must be able to dodge the attack.

She knew all too well how easy the tests were for Gaara. He would pass every single one, whether he did a good job or not.

Sauda wanted to help Gaara with this test, so he could dodge it perfectly and the teacher wouldn't have to give him a 100 simply out fear. Then, an idea formed in her head, not only to help Gaara dodge it perfectly, but it would help the teacher be slightly harsher on him as well. Even if the teacher was a little harsher, Gaara would still be far more 'perfect' in the teachers eyes than any other student in the school, but still, it could help a little.

Sauda was satisfied with her plan, simple as it was, and drifted into sleep, the moon lighting up her face and revealing a small smile upon her lips.

**Heeyyy! This is my first Naruto fanfiction, so tell me what you think! E3 It's also going to be a prequal to another one I'm writing that starts off aroung the time the Chuunin exams start. Then of course, I'm planning on making one for Shippuden. But the sequal to this I will be posting the first chapter of as soon as I think of a good title... I really suck at titles...**

**Please review, it really helps motivate me! ^-^**

**I really want some cinnamon rolls right now...**

**Weird... somehow this got replaced with the first chapter of Neko no Jutsu (the sequal)... any idea how that happened?**


	2. Chapter 2: Mornings

'BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP'

Sauda jumped at the sound of her alarm, quickly befriending the floor with a 'Thud'.

She scowled at her alarm as she picked herself up and gave it a slap.

No matter how many times she had practiced hitting the 'off' button when she smacked it, it never worked.

She growled in annoyance, suddenly in a bad mood from the start of her morning. She was a morning person, but nonetheless, school was always too damn early.

She let out a low hiss as she gently pushed the button and the alarm stopped, annoyed at it's lack of violence towards the acursed object.

'Great.' she growled to herself 'It's gonna be one of those days...'

Sauda sighed and walked to her closet. She tossed on her usual outfit; a white tanktop and tan khakis. Then she put on her favorite poncho that shielded her from the sandstorms as well as let her blend into the desert so that only her face was visible. Then she quickly ran a brush through her hair a few times, then ran downstairs.

She poured herself a bowl of cereal and some juice, and began to eat.

"Morning, honey!"

Sauda inwardly groaned as her mother entered the kitchen.

"What do you want for breakfast?"

Sauda gave her mother an irritated glare then held up her half eaten bowl of cereal to emphasize that she was already having breakfast. Her mom nodded and began noisily washing the dishes for a few minutes.

"G'morning Sissy!"

"HOLY-" Sauda caught herself before she could say worse, despite having been scared half to death.

She turned around and scowled into a mirror, except her golden eyes were replaced by emerald-green ones and this Sauda was smaller.

"Morning..." she muttered, turning back and drinking the milk left in the bowl. "What are you doing up so early?

Sauda's little sister walked around and stood next to her seat, peering over the table. "Did you forget?" She looked at her with big round eyes, "I'm starting school today!"

Sauda looked away. "Oh..." she mumbled in a flat tone.

The little girl pouted, folding her arms across her chest. "What's with you today?"

Sauda looked back and after a moment, she smiled. The child looked cute, even when pouting.

"I'm sorry Emi..." she paused to haul Emi onto her lap, making her giggle adorably, "I'm just worried you're not going to put up a big enough fight when you challenge me someday."

Emi had always said she wanted to grow strong enough to beat her sister. And to be honest, Sauda was worried she would. Emi was a fast learner, and only 3 years younger than Sauda. Emi hadn't started school until today, yet Sauda still didn't notice when she came into the kitchen; which was odd because Sauda rarely let her guard down and had good eyesight and hearing.

Emi grinned, showing teeth, "Nuh-Uh! I'm going to beat you! Just you wait!"

"You can't say that quite yet! You have to graduate from the academy first!"

"Fine," she said boldly "but after that, I'm going to get strong, and someday, I'll beat you," she grinned "I promise."

Sauda smiled back. Emi always keeps her promises. "Alright. But don't think I'll go easy on you just because you're my little sister!"

Sauda grabbed Emi around the neck with her arm and gave her a noogie. Emi squealed and quickly slipped off her sister's lap.

"That's enough you two," their mom ordered "get going or you'll be late for school."

"Hai."

* * *

><p>"Sis?..."<p>

Sauda looked down at Emi "hm?"

"What... Who is Kasha?"

"...Kasha?"

Emi nodded "I overheard mom talking about me on the phone... and she mentioned someone named Kasha."

"Kasha, huh?..."

"Sissy, who is Kasha?" Emi repeated.

"Kasha..." Sauda looked towards the sky, remembering the tales she had heard of Kasha when she was Emi's age. "Kasha is is a cat god that our family used to worship."

Emi blinked "A cat god? Is he a nice kitty?"

Sauda paused then smiled down at Emi "Of course," she said hesitantly "he's the god who escorts you to Kami in the afterlife... If you're good that is!"

Emi gave her a wide grin "Then you might want to start acting nicer to me!"

Sauda laughed and picked Emi up, putting her on her back and holding her legs. "What's that suppost to mean? You just want me to buy you more toys, don't you?"

Emi raised her hands in the air and laughed, enjoying the ride "May-be!"

Sauda chuckled "You can have some of my stuffed animals if you want. I can hardly find my bed!"

"Okay!" Emi giggled cutely again.

Sauda lowered her gaze. Kasha wasn't a cat god, and he certainly didn't escort people to Kami.

He was a winged cat-like creature that in ancient mythology flew down from the sky and carried off recently deceased corpses.

Kasha wasn't a god... He was a demon.

**So... short...**

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but like I said, this is only a prequel. The main story I have already posted (4 chapters actually!) and it's called Neko no Jutsu.**

**Thank you to Krista79 and Night Hawk for reviewing! And in response to Krista's review, I would like to say that personally... I hate Sauda's mom. So much. I will try to make her more... human... but the story mostly focuses on Sauda Gaara and Emi. Emi is like the little sister I've always wanted (teachers: "did I have your brother?" me: "im an only child..." 'l'-_- they tease me its so lonely...) but unfortunately, she isn't really in Neko no Jutsu much... :(**

**Again, sorry it's so short, I'll post chapter 3 within the next week to make up for it! (I like chapter 3...) X3**

**Please review! :3**


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